Combinatorial transcription factor activities on open chromatin induce embryonic heterogeneity in vertebrates.

ABSTRACT: During vertebrate gastrulation, mesoderm is induced in pluripotent cells, concomitant with dorsal-ventral patterning and establishing of the dorsal axis. We applied single-cell chromatin accessibility and transcriptome analyses to explore the emergence of cellular heterogeneity during gastrulation in Xenopus tropicalis. Transcriptionally inactive lineage-restricted genes exhibit relatively open chromatin in animal caps, whereas chromatin accessibility in dorsal marginal zone cells more closely reflects transcriptional activity. We characterized single-cell trajectories and identified head and trunk organizer cell clusters in early gastrulae. By integrating chromatin accessibility and transcriptome data, we inferred the activity of transcription factors in single-cell clusters and tested th

SUBMITTER: Bright AR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8090851 | biostudies-literature | 2021 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature